The idle musings of a former military man, former computer geek, medically retired pastor and now full-time writer. Contents guaranteed to offend the politically correct and anal-retentive from time to time. My approach to life is that it should be taken with a large helping of laughter, and sufficient firepower to keep it tamed!

Friday, February 8, 2013

Snowplowing in the (very) deep South

I'm sure many readers have seen video clips of snowplows in action in various cities in America, and of locomotive-powered snowplows clearing railway lines too. However, in the Northern Hemisphere we don't think of countries like New Zealand as suffering from similar problems. They do, of course, and they use similar solutions.

I enjoyed this video clip of a Kiwirail snowplow train clearing the tracks in the scenic Arthur's Pass region of New Zealand's South Island. This was in winter last year - which, for Southern Hemisphere countries, falls during summer in the Northern Hemisphere. I recommend watching it in full-screen mode.

As an old railroad kid, I can tell you there is a very fine line between enough speed to keep momentum and too much which can cause a derailment. My late father had to put more than one back on the rails.